Bitch Media - terminatorhttp://bitchmagazine.org/taxonomy/term/1201/0
enThe New Terminator Film Gets Sarah Connor All Wronghttp://bitchmagazine.org/post/terminator-genisys-review-sarah-connor-arnold-feminism
<p><img src="/sites/default/files/u2583/terminator.jpeg" alt="" width="670" height="380" /></p>
<p>It just isn’t summer without Arnold Schwarzenegger. Whether he is <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwdYd_RdLCQ" target="_blank">clad in furs</a> or <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHz95RYUbik" target="_self">crammed with machinery</a>, tracking an <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4YKFAjPj9o" target="_blank">alien through the jungle</a> or <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNfsJuv0bJU" target="_blank">bringing a difficult pregnancy to term</a>, he is the great staple of that second American pastime: the air-conditioned summer blockbuster. Now, as <em>Terminator: Genisys’ </em>promotional materials will waste no time in telling you, Arnold is back. Politics were, it seems, just a blip in his far more storied career as a cinematic tough guy. He has left the governor’s mansion and returned to the multiplex, and it’s a good thing, too: while the state of California would likely have been better off without his help, <em>Genisys </em>needs all the help it can get.</p>
<p>By now, the <em>Terminator </em>timeline is like a tapestry the franchise’s directors and screenwriters keep ravelling and unravelling like a team of modern-day Penelopes. In the case of the <em>Terminator </em>series, the narrative cannot reach an end without slaughtering a time-tested cash cow. The problem that separates <em>Terminator </em>from the other franchises we can be confident in encountering again and again—with this year’s staples including <em>Mad Max, Jurassic Park, Star Wars,</em>&nbsp;<em>The Fast and the Furious,</em> and <em>The Hunger Games—</em>is that the <em>Terminator </em>series cannot move forward, only back. By necessity, this often means rendering a beloved storyline obsolete in favor of a desperate revamp, and this is exactly what happens in <em>Terminator: Genisys.</em></p>
<p>Enter the Strong Female Character. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHz95RYUbik" target="_blank">In 1984’s <em>The Terminator</em></a><em>—</em>the movie that kicked off the franchise and launched a two-bit B-lister named James Cameron into the big leagues—Sarah Connor, played by Linda Hamilton, was an ordinary waitress suddenly faced with a futuristic killing machine. (She also had some <a href="/sites/default/files/u2583/sarahconnor_terminator.jpg" target="_blank">truly magnificent hockey hair</a>.) The movie’s emotional core was her attempt to defeat a seemingly invulnerable enemy, and to prepare both herself and her unborn child for the coming battle. She was a normal woman—not the strongest, not the smartest, and not the most well-prepared—but the movie ended on a rousing and hopeful note, largely because the audience had come to understand Sarah’s inner core of quiet strength, and knew it would be enough to see herself and her son through <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5C6GZQ7UNaU" target="_blank">whatever struggles lay before her</a>.</p>
<p><img src="/sites/default/files/u2583/sarah-connor-terminator-genisys.png" alt="" width="670" height="335" /></p>
<p>After Arnold’s “I’ll be back,” the most-quoted line in 1984’s <em>The Terminator </em>probably belongs to Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn), a supersoldier sent into the past to save Sarah Connor from the T-800. <a href="https://youtu.be/i4kfqmv2PoQ?t=253" target="_blank">“Come with me if you want to live,”</a> he tells her, after rescuing her from almost certain death. She does, and soon learns everything she needs to know about the future, and her mission, from him. So it must have seemed quite a stroke of genius to the filmmakers behind <em>Terminator: Genisys, </em>when they gave the same line to 2015’s Sarah Connor (Emilia Clarke). “Come with me if you want to live,” Sarah barks at the clueless Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney, who resembles nothing so much as Channing Tatum run through a laundry press). In this version, it is Reese who is the fish out of water, having just landed in a disrupted timeline, and must rely on a newly Strong Female Sarah to save the future.</p>
<p>This is what feminism is, right? <em>Someone</em> has to shout orders at someone, and if women keep complaining about action movies, the studio heads seem to have thought, then let’s give them what they want: someone controlling, unkind, and emotionally obtuse. Isn’t that what feminists are like?</p>
<p><em>Terminator: Genisys </em>does an impressive job of gutting a beloved story of all that made the franchise work—a sense of confrontation between the inevitable future and the unflaggable human spirit; the moments of tenderness two people can share in the midst of violence and horror; the astonishing ways in which ordinary people can rise to seemingly impossible occasions—and ignoring all the avenues that might have made it seem relevant today. On my way to see <em>Terminator: Genisys, </em>and on my way back home, I used Google maps to find my way around, and listening to that disembodied voice telling me exactly what to do, it was hard to understand why we persist in believing SkyNet <em>isn’t </em>already a reality. Especially when an <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2015/5/9/8577515/nsa-skynet-program-is-real" target="_blank">NSA surveillance program named SkyNet is <em>actually </em>a reality</a>. This film should be more on-point than ever, since technology has taken over our lives. But rather than actively antagonizing us, technology simply allows us easy ways to indulge in laziness and cruelty. <em>Terminator: Genisys </em>never puts much thought into the humans &gt; robots tautology; it simply enacts it, violently, again and again.</p>
<p><img src="/sites/default/files/u2583/o-terminator-genisys-facebook.jpg" alt="" width="670" height="335" /></p>
<p>This plot contrivance feels especially unfortunate in light of the only really likable character in the movie: Arnold Schwarzenegger’s T-800, who, in this version, returned to the past (for no apparent reason) to raise Sarah Connor and prepare her for combat. (Because even the terrifying feminists this movie was apparently written for must acknowledge that a woman can only become a Strong Female if she is trained by a man.)</p>
<p>1984’s <em>The Terminator </em>was also the movie that solidified Arnold Schwarzenegger’s career, transforming him from a bodybuilder that men might covertly idolize into a summer movie staple the whole world could freely admire. And perhaps the most delightful moment in <em>Terminator: Genysis </em>comes when the filmmakers acknowledge every viewer’s fantasy, and give it to them: the ragged, weathered T-800 of 2015 taking on his Greek god of a younger counterpart (not for nothing did Schwarzenegger make his <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9qAR-Jnbug" target="_blank">film debut playing the role of Hercules</a>).</p>
<p>This little bit of Arnold-on-Arnold action is the movie’s high point, in no small part because old Arnold gets to win. He has played the same character for over thirty years, and America has loved him for a reason: not just for the dominating, Machiavellian <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZ8aqP2NWk8" target="_blank">persona viewers encountered in <em>Pumping Iron</em></a>, but for his strange combination of vulnerability and brawn. He is both physically imposing and verbally maladroit, his accent—still astonishingly thick after all these years—making simple sentence seem like obstacle courses for him. It is a quality that serves to make him not just impressive but endearing. Now, as we watch him in decline, it is comforting to find that <em>he </em>is the one who can deliver the film’s only human touch. Of all the film’s characters, and the script's claims about human superiority and attempts at feminist punch-up, it is only the robot who saves the day, and only the former paragon of masculinity who displays anything resembling tenderness.</p>
<p><em>Related Reading: <a href="http://bitchmagazine.org/post/mad-max-complicates-action-hero-masculinity%E2%80%94and-thats-great" target="_blank">Mad Max Complicated Action Hero Masculinity—And That's Great.</a></em></p>
<p><em><a href="https://twitter.com/remember_sarah" target="_blank">Sarah Marshall</a>&nbsp;is a writer who gets deep into researching serial killers and figure skating.&nbsp;</em></p>
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http://bitchmagazine.org/post/terminator-genisys-review-sarah-connor-arnold-feminism#commentsaction moviesArnold SchwarzeneggerterminatorMoviesTue, 07 Jul 2015 23:10:24 +0000Sarah Marshall32371 at http://bitchmagazine.orgThe Week in Trailers: One Stripper Drama, A Rom-Com, A Bunch of Terminators, and One Mammothhttp://bitchmagazine.org/post/the-week-in-trailers
<p><b>The Proposal</b></p>
<p>This romantic comedy, directed by Anne Fletcher (<i>27 Dresses</i>, <i>Step Up</i>), features Sandra Bullock as a tyrannical boss who forces her assistant (Ryan Reynolds) to marry her in order to avoid deportation to Canada.<br /> </p>
<object width="480" height="295"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/pJTzY_PGTUk&hl=en&fs=1" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/pJTzY_PGTUk&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="295"></embed></object><p><br />
</p>
<p>Yep, it's another rom-rom that that depicts a high-powered career woman as totally inept at relationships. Blah. (Too bad for Sandra Bullock, who has aways been something of an underrated actress). However, kudos for Betty White! </p>
<p><b>Power Blue </b></p>
<p>This voiceover-free trailer for the indie flick <i>Powder Blue</i> pretty much confirms that we'll get to see a lot of Jessica Biel stripping!<br /></p>
<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/AWMuX_0njFk&hl=en&fs=1" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/AWMuX_0njFk&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><p><br /></p>
<p><i>Powder Blue</i> looks to feature some pretty self-consciously intense performances from Ray Liotta, Patrick Swayze, Forest Whitaker, Lisa Kudrow and Kris Kristofferson, but the real buzz about the film has all been generated from Jessical Biel's contractual obligation to appear naked - US Magazine handily provided all of the contract details: <a href="http://www.usmagazine.com/jessica_biel_gets_naked_on_screen">&quot;shots of her breasts (nipples from the front and side) and her butt (side view only)&quot;</a> - as a woman who works as an exotic dancer to pay for the medical bills of her terminally ill son. The trailer is bewildering and I'm guessing I'm not the only one creeped out by the single, context-free line of dialogue at the end. However, strippers and prostitutes in indie films always seem to do pretty well during awards season...</p>
<p><b>Terminator: Salvation</b></p>
<p>I'm sure you've seen it already, but I'd be remiss for not including it...<br /></p>
<object width="480" height="295"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/aRwby_vjg88&hl=en&fs=1" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/aRwby_vjg88&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="295"></embed></object><p><br /></p>
<p>As a big fan of the first two <i>Terminator</i> films, I was skepical of McG taking over the sci-fi action franchise, but I have to admit that this looks completely awesome. Christian Bale appears to be a John Connor I can believe in - even with his Batman voice. No signs of Helena Bonham Carter, though, who apparently plays quite the villian. Even as I'm excited for this film, I am a bit sad to see the franchise transform into a solidly guy-centered storyline. Sarah Connor was one of the most influential film figures for me as a young girl, and I think it was important for me to see a film series anchored by a woman who had the power to save the world from destruction. Alas...</p>
<p><b>Mammoth</b></p>
<p>Here's an international trailer for the film <i>Mammoth</i> by Swedish filmmaker Lukas Moodysson. It stars Michelle Williams and Gael Garcia Bernal as a married couple whose lives change after Bernal takes a trip to Thailand.</p>
<object width="480" height="295"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/_kboXhfATrY&hl=en&fs=1" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/_kboXhfATrY&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="295"></embed></object><p><br />
</p><p>This is likely to be 2009's answer to <i>Babel</i> - the film turns on the connections between Williams, Bernal and their Filipino nanny. I hope it turns out to be a smart, thought-provoking drama. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.</p>
<p>What do you think of this week's trailers?</p>
http://bitchmagazine.org/post/the-week-in-trailers#commentsChristian Balejessica beilmammothMichelle Williamspowder bluesandra bullockterminatorterminator:salvationthe proposaltrailersMoviesFri, 12 Dec 2008 16:24:04 +0000Tammy Oler995 at http://bitchmagazine.org